


Here We Are (My Arms Are Open Wide)

by l_grace_b



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV)
Genre: F/F, post-s2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-20
Updated: 2018-05-20
Packaged: 2019-05-09 11:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14715539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/l_grace_b/pseuds/l_grace_b
Summary: It starts with a sticky note.





	Here We Are (My Arms Are Open Wide)

It starts with a sticky note, covered in neat, curvy handwriting. It's there when Nicole strolls tiredly into the bullpen at six a.m., coming off an uneventful late night patrol. It's stuck to the cover of her planner, the first place she always looks when returning to her desk.

 

_Dinner Saturday night?_

 

It takes her a minute to register the note, her body already begging for sleep.

She runs through her schedule in her head. Two more night shifts, then three days off.

It's three words that are simple, but they make Nicole's heart swell.

She wanders down to the Black Badge Office, the morning light beginning to stream through the back windows.

She fishes through Waverly's exceptionally organized desk, yanking out a bright green sticky note. She quickly finds a pen and scratches out a response in her tight, neat handwriting, hoping its recipient will feel the same amount of levity, of hope, of normalcy.

 

_Pick you up at 6:30._

\---

It's been four weeks since they sent Alice away. 

They mostly spend them going through the motions. Nicole goes back to work, keeping the drunks off the road, seeing to calls of missing animals and escaped livestock.

All is quiet, for the most part. Nothing that couldn't be tamed by the demon-grade bug spray Jeremy cooks up. Nothing requiring a demon-killing gun or its rightful wielder. 

Wynonna is still gone--nearly without a trace, just a note hastily scrawled with the words _I'll be back. I promise._

Nicole found Waverly standing in the middle of the kitchen of the Homestead, holding the note in a shaking hand, trying to stifle the sobs bubbling in her chest. She barely gets her arms around her before Waverly collapses to the floor. 

They stay there for an hour, Nicole holding Waverly, stroking her hair, letting her soak her shirt with tears.

Over and over, she keeps telling Waverly the only thing that comes to mind.

"She'll be back. I promise."

\---

It takes them four weeks to relax and realize…they chose to be with each other, demons or not. They better make the most of it.

Things are okay. They feel like they get to start over.

They know their lives will never be normal. 

But they try.

A dinner date with your girlfriend is normal.

After everything that's happened, they both feel like they owe it to each other. Quiet. Peace.

Taking time for one another. Spending time with each other when they don't also have to chase demons or delay the end of the world.

So when Nicole strolls into Shorty's the next day when she's on her dinner break, there's tight a knot of guilt settled in her stomach.

She tells Waverly they have to cancel their date night. Lonnie called in sick with the flu and schedules were shifted around. She's now working the evening shift for the whole weekend.

But Waverly's eyes are kind and forgiving, and she leans over the counter and cuts off Nicole with a sweet kiss. When she leans back, she tucks a strand of bright red hair behind Nicole's ear, her hand resting on her cheek.

"We'll make it work."

\---

It's been four weeks and Waverly and Nicole have hardly spent a day apart.

There's still a lingering fear and desperation, though, like the world can still end at any moment. An uneasiness about the other when one is called out of the safety of the Sheriff's office or the Homestead. Too much relief when the other comes home, always without a scratch.

After Wynonna's departure, Waverly is hesitant to stay over at Nicole's place, fearful that Wynonna will return and will… _need_ her.

Except for one night when the nightmares get too bad, and Waverly keeps jolting awake in a cold sweat. And Nicole is always there, awake from her own nightmares, the crescent-shaped scar along her left wrist still waking her with an unexpected twinge.

It's two in the morning, but Nicole drives them back to her place and they curl into each other in the middle of Nicole's bed. Nicole holds a trembling Waverly tightly--just enough so that Nicole won't fall apart, either.

Nicole presses a kiss to Waverly's forehead as she sobs into her chest. They hold each other all night.

But, for the first time in weeks, Waverly sleeps soundly.

Because Nicole's house is starting to feel like home, too.

\---

Nicole shuffles back into the station, rubbing her eyes, running a hand through her hair. After a long, uneventful night of speed trap duty, she's ready to crawl into bed.

Then she's stopped in her tracks a few feet short of her desk.

Her heart skips a beat when her eyes land at the person currently occupying her chair. The person who should be back at the Homestead, asleep in the bed that Nicole can't wait to crawl into.

Except she's not. She's here.

"Hey, you."

"Hey," says Nicole tiredly. "What are you doing here? What is this?

Waverly holds up a grease-stained brown paper bag with a burger printed on the side, a sheepish grin on her face.

"I'm pretty sure we had a date tonight."

\---

They end up pulled off to the side of the road, parked in a field a few miles outside the Purgatory sign. The roads are empty. They have the world to themselves.

They have milkshakes--Waverly chocolate, Nicole vanilla--and giant bag of curly fries to share between them. They take the shell off the back, and stretch out in the bed of the Jeep.

It's not that fancy Thai place in the Big City that Waverly's been raving about for weeks, but somehow it still feels like Waverly had planned this all along.

Nicole thinks it's perfect.

They spend a good part of the night talking. 

Just talking.

And not about demons. Or curses. Or cults. 

Instead, it's favorite school subjects. Their dream jobs when they were kids. They laugh and tease each other over favorite songs from middle school.

Too many times their hands brush as they reach into the bag at the same time. More than once, Nicole gets brain freeze from slurping down her shake too fast. Waverly is there with a kind, teasing smile, rubbing her back. They steal sweet and salty kisses.

"You've always tasted like vanilla," Waverly says when she breaks off a kiss, a smile pulling at the corners of her mouth.

Nicole responds by leaning in to capture Waverly's lips with her own. It's longer than the others they've shared, because Nicole wants--needs--to remember how it felt kissing her the first time, and every time. 

Not that she could forget.

They break apart, but they're still close enough that Nicole sees the how the moonlight catches Waverly's eyes. She swears she can see entire galaxies

"Baby, you've always tasted like the sunset."

\---

Waverly leaves the car radio on low. They're talking about their dream houses when she stops mid-sentence.

“Oh, I love this song.”

Nicole turns her head, straining to hear the song, listening to the soothing pulse of the piano notes floating from the speakers. "I don't know that I've heard it."

Waverly isn't listening. Her eyes are closed and she hums along to the first verse.

Nicole closes her eyes, too, letting the soft, low notes wash over her. This song does sound familiar…

“Dance with me?”

Nicole laughs bemusedly, but when she glances over to Waverly, she's met with a sincere, pleading look on her face. She holds out her hand.

Nicole takes it.

They climb out of the Jeep, Waverly first, then Nicole. They don't let go of each other.

After she gains her footing, Nicole pulls Waverly close to her, a hand settling on the small of her back. Waverly slides her free hand up Nicole's chest and lays it on Nicole's shoulder. Nicole rests her forehead against Waverly's. She closes her eyes.

And they dance.

Blades of grass brush against their calves in time with the song as they sway back and forth.

"You know why I love this song?" It's barely a whisper.

Nicole hums in response.

"It sounds like walking into a room and meeting the love of your life. Like, you've been waiting your whole life for this… _person_. And then there they are." 

Nicole feels her chest inflate as her mind races back to the time before now, before the curse and the demons, to walking into a bar and seeing a girl…

"The last time I heard this song…" Waverly takes a pause. "Was the day I took you into Nedley's office and…"

"Kissed me so hard we fell onto the couch of my boss's office?"

Waverly ducks her head and leans it against Nicole's chest. Nicole just laughs and plants a kiss to the top of her head.

The song begins to fade.

"You know what, though?" Nicole leans back, catching Waverly's chin with her finger, lifting it up so they can lock eyes. "I think I heard that song then, too."

\---

They climb back into the Jeep, and they settle into an easy silence, once that isn't filled with desperation or worry or doubt.

The sky is a clear blanket of stars above them. Crickets provide the score. Coyotes howl their nightly business back and forth.

For once, it's not cold. Spring is giving way to summer, to warmer evenings and cool, dewy mornings. Every so often, though, a fierce breeze comes in from the north and catches them off-guard.

Nicole gives and involuntary shiver and Waverly reaches over the back seat, pulling out a wool blanket. She drapes it over the both of them. Waverly curls into Nicole's side, her head against her chest, not caring that Nicole is still in her work uniform, hasn't showered. Nicole's arm instinctively finds its way around Waverly, her hand resting just above her hip.

"Usually I'm the one freezing," Waverly chuckles to herself, her breath tickling Nicole's neck. 

Nicole just snuggles further under the blanket. "I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, Waverly Earp." She leans in, her nose brushing against Waverly's, before meeting Waverly's lips with hers.

They linger there, foreheads pressed lips no longer touching, breathing one another in. The wind mixes vanilla and lavender. 

"I love you."

She's trying to say it more. Because she means it.

"I love you, too."

She hears it more. Because she means it.

\---

Nicole's head snaps up, her neck protesting the awkward angle it had been resting at for however long she was asleep. For a moment, she forgets where she is, but then she registers the familiar sensation of another body against her side, and relaxes. 

Waverly is still sound asleep, her breathing gentle and even. Her arm is still draped across Nicole's abdomen. Nicole lays her hand on top of Waverly's, planting a kiss to her forehead. She blinks a few more times, her eyes adjusting to the changing light.

The horizon is rimmed with a milky light, signaling the inevitable arrival of a new day.

She can feel sleep and reality pulling at her. She still needs to go home, to shower, to feed the cat. Get ready to go to work again. She'll need to wake Waverly soon.

She knows that they might have to fight a demon tomorrow. Or Wynonna will return to Purgatory and they have to hit the ground running again, trying to break the curse. Or she'll finally catch the kid who's been stealing cigarettes from the gas station.

She knows that she will give Waverly that fancy dinner in the city. They will give each other lazy Sunday mornings when they stay in bed far too long. They have years to give each other, maybe filled with a house of their own and pets and kids…

But, for now, this little moment of normalcy feels enough.

"Hey…baby…" She nudges Waverly gently. "Wake up."

Waverly stirs and groans.

"What's up?" Waverly's voice is groggy with sleep.

"Look." Nicole gestures beyond the bed of the Jeep. "The sun is rising."

**Author's Note:**

> Long time, no see! Sorry it's been a while since I've posted anything.
> 
> Anyway, here's a little ditty with no other purpose other than giving Nicole and Waverly a bit of softness and quiet. I've missed writing them.
> 
> I hoped you enjoyed it.
> 
> Come say hi over on Twitter (@Teachearp_) or on Tumblr (@emeraldcitynerdfighter)


End file.
